The present invention relates to an image processing method for detecting a particular imaging object from an image obtained by imaging, an image processing system to which the image processing method is applied, an image processing device used in the image processing system, and a computer program product for realizing the image processing device, and particularly relates to the image processing method, the image processing system, the image processing device, and the computer program product for judging presence/absence of the imaging object.
As a device for supporting driving of a vehicle such as an automobile, there is proposed an image processing device for imaging a face of a driver by using an on-vehicle camera mounted on a vehicle disposed at a position capable of imaging the face of the driver and performing image processing for detecting a contour of the face, positions of eyes and a nostril of the driver from the obtained image (for example, see Japanese Patent Application Laid Open No. 2004-234367). By using such a device, it is possible to constitute a system capable of detecting a condition of the driver and performing driving support such as a warning of inattentive driving.
However, a conventional image processing device executes a processing of detecting an imaging object on the assumption that the imaging object is present in an area of the image obtained by imaging, and therefore, when the imaging object is absent in the area of the image obtained by imaging, the processing for detecting the imaging object from a background image where the image is absent is executed. For this reason, there is a problem that abnormality occurs with high possibility, such as the increase of a processing load caused by unnecessarily repeating error recognition and detection processing from the background image.